Britain first: UKIP wants foreign aid budget to be spent at home

A Syrian migrant reacts after members of Turkish Coastal Guard ship UMUT captured them on a boat as they attempted to reach Greek Island Chios at the Agean Sea in Cesme district near Izmir, coastal city of Turkey, early 10 December 2015. The migrants, mostly from Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Morocco, were placed on buses, some forcibly, and transported to shelters in Athens 550 kilometres to the south, reports said. Around 1,200 people had been stranded at the border since Macedonia started denying entry to so-called economic migrants trying to reach Western Europe via the Balkan route, which stretches from Turkey, through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and finally to Austria. In Athens, they will have to apply for asylum or be repatriated. Greek police sealed Idomeni on 09 December morning, also blocking access to reporters and humanitarian workers.

Britain first: UKIP wants foreign aid budget to be spent at home

UKIP is calling for an 80% cut in the British foreign aid budget £12.5bn (€14,6bn), which corresponds to a legally binding commitment of 0,7% of the country’s GDP.

The budget UKIP is proposing is €2,9bn, calling for Britain to prioritize “basic obligations to British citizens” rather than foreign aid.

The nationalist party claims that aid makes recipients worse off by perpetuating bad government, presumably via corruption, and remains ineffective in tackling poverty. The party advocates an exclusive focus on emergency aid and humanitarian relief.

According to the BBC, British humanitarian aid has more than doubled since 2011, focusing in places like Syria and Yemen, where in 2015 alone €1,46bn was spent on health. British aid in the region represents 16% of all bilateral aid. In 2015, Britain refused to take in refugees in numbers reflecting the state of its economy and population.

UKIP also wants to shed multilateral funding, through the OECD, the EU, the World Bank, and UN agencies, which account for 37% of total spending. Instead, the model of aid should refocus on facilitating trade, according to the party’s foreign aid spokeswoman Lisa Duffy.